Journalism of Courage
Gunmen attacked a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria early on Monday, abducting 25 schoolgirls and killing a staff member, police told Reuters.
The attack happened at about 4 a.m. at a high school in Maga, in Kebbi state’s Danko-Wasagu area. Police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi said the assailants “were armed with sophisticated weapons” and exchanged fire with the school’s guards before taking the girls from their dormitories.
Kotarkoshi said a staff member was killed and another was injured in the shooting. “A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed at recovering the abducted students and arresting the perpetrators,” he told Reuters.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
It is the latest in a series of school abductions in northern Nigeria, where armed groups have targeted students since 2014, when Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from Chibok in Borno state. Nearly 100 of those girls were still unaccounted for in 2024.
Kidnappings have become common in several northern states, where armed groups operate in remote areas with limited security. Most hostages are freed only after ransom payments.
In March 2024, authorities rescued more than 130 schoolchildren who had been held for over two weeks in Kaduna state.
Since the Chibok abductions, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped as criminal groups use hostage-taking to finance their activities and exert control in the region, which is rich in minerals but has weak policing.
